When she was 13 years old, Nicole Bolsajian, a current fourth-year, went on a trip with her family to Armenia and visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial, Tsitsernakaberd. It was there that she went from exhibit to exhibit and learned about the ways that her people were mass-murdered. She had asked her mother if an Armenian Genocide would occur again, to which her mother said no.
But now, Bolsajian shares, “I am absolutely disgusted by the perpetrators and by the fact that such a hunger to kill exists within them. We are all sick with sadness from watching innocent Armenians being tortured and murdered in the most gut-wrenching ways possible. From being decapitated, to having their eyes carved out and replaced with stones, to being brutally raped — to having all three of those things happen to someone at once. There are no words to describe the repulsion that witnessing this morbidity brings upon the body.”
In remembrance of the start of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, the University of California, Riverside’s (UCR) Armenian Student Association (ASA) hosted a series of events throughout April to educate the broader public.
Beginning with a welcome back meeting introducing people to Armenian Genocide Month, ASA held a myriad of events throughout the month. They hosted guest speaker Shant Charchafian to present on rebuilding communities, an arts night involving pomegranate painting, and ended the month with a candlelight vigil. ASA sought to open events to both members and non-members to stand with them in unity.
Bolsajian, one of the co-presidents of ASA, joined the organization during her freshman year to connect with her roots and find an Armenian community on campus. Not only has ASA shaped her social and cultural life during her time in college, but it has also provided her with an opportunity to give back to the community and support the Armenian cause.
In regards to the planning and preparation for the month of awareness, Bolsajian recalls, “Planning for Armenian Genocide Awareness Month came together smoothly, as it always does. We’re lucky to have such a dedicated executive board and a community that shows up and supports us without hesitation. That’s something I’ve always loved about Armenians — when someone needs help, everyone steps in. No one ever asks, ‘What’s in it for me?’ We just do what needs to be done for each other.”
Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a community to organize ASA’s events. To facilitate the guest speaker session and pomegranate painting event, ASA invited two individuals they knew would make it happen. The guest speaker, Charchafian, who lived in Artsakh during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, delayed his trip back to Armenia to speak during the event.
For the pomegranate painting event, the instructor, who happened to be the mother of one of the executive board members, took the day off to drive from San Diego with a car full of supplies. Bolsajian expressed, “That kind of commitment is why everything falls into place. When it comes to helping each other, Armenians will move mountains for one another.”
UCR’s Middle Eastern Student Center played a significant role in supporting the various events ASA held during the month. Bolsajian shares, “Their team went above and beyond to help us, funding the majority of our events by covering the cost of supplies and resources. From securing items for the vigil to art supplies and refreshments, they made sure we had everything we needed to bring our vision for this month to life.” She reaffirmed that not only did their support help make these events possible, but it also reminded them of how strong the campus community can be when working towards a shared goal.
Throughout the various months of remembrance Bolsajian has participated in at UCR, the event that has always stood out most to her is the annual candlelight vigil, held on April 24.
“The whole point of the vigil is to honor the 1.5 million lives that were taken. Every Armenian standing there is a descendant of someone who survived a genocide — people who weren’t supposed to survive. That thought alone gives me chills. I looked around and thought, ‘We’re here because they fought to live.’ The silence, the prayers, the faces around me – it’s emotional in a way that’s hard to put into words. It’s heavy,” explained Bolsajian.
In December of 2022, the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh was implemented by Azerbaijan in the Armenian region of Artsakh, which Bolsajian claims is “a devastating and deliberate act that left families cut off from basic human needs.”
Recalling her experience of watching the unfolding events, Bolsajian reflected, “We watched civilians roaming empty grocery stores, being denied consistent electricity and power in their homes, and being denied adequate access to medical aid. We watched bombs dropping left and right … again. We saw mass evacuations taking place. Thousands and thousands of people being forced out of their homes on indigenous Armenian land. Fourth century Armenian churches and monasteries being desecrated — all under the false pretense that this land isn’t ours.”
“I never thought that when saying the phrase ‘Armenian Genocide,’ I would have to clarify whether I was talking about the one that happened in 1915, or the one that’s happening right now. I never thought I would be watching what my great grandparents were victims of in real time,” Bolsagian reveals. “We host this month of remembrance not only to acknowledge the past, but to remind the world that what happened to us has never stopped.”
